


Dancing in the dark

by convenience



Series: Greenhouse Love [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cute, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Oh My God, Yule Ball (Harry Potter), ginny and hannah are bros, it doesnt get softer than this folks, soft babies, we dont women-hate in this house
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-24 14:45:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18166547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/convenience/pseuds/convenience
Summary: Neville Longbottom asks Ginny Weasley to the ball, under assumption that Hannah Abbott is otherwise occupied. She's never seemed interested, and well, she loves plants a little more than him and he wouldn't be surprised if she had to spend the night tending to Tatiana the Mandrake, who was horrifically sick.Hannah was once a dancer, and so who else does he go to for dance lessons? Little does he know, he's breaking his best friend's heart with every fourth beat.





	1. Dance lessons

“Hannah, wait up!” Neville calls after her even though she had no real intention of leaving, nowhere to go if not the greenhouses or her common room. Not like him, she thinks.  
Turning to him, she beams, then quickly pulls her lips together in that smile - teeth are not pretty, and certainly not hers.

“Yeah? Are you okay?” She asks, nursing a mandrake that a first year had bludgeoned into unconsciousness. The infant-like plant is coarse and wrinkly under her hands and she wants to let go, but she gently cradles the mandrake and fixes it up gently. “Can you pass a see-through pot, Nev?”

“Of course, yeah.” He nods, placing a see through pot on the side to where she’s standing by the raised flower bed that’s teeming with mandrake colonies. “Anyway, I’ve asked Ginny to go to the ball with me!” Neville is so excited and Hannah can only presume that the girl has said yes or maybe. Her best friend was easily pleased. God, her best friend.

“And?” Hannah pursues with a smirk, potting the mandrake and placing it with it’s colony and then hopping up onto the raised bed. “She said yes, I’m assuming?” Taking her gloves off, she looked at him expectantly.

“She said yes!” Neville nodded, hugging her and then stepping back “Nan’s already sent my dress robes, will you help me learn how to dance? You were saying you used to dance as a kid, and I thought that you might know. If not, though, it’s ok!”

“Of course I’ll help you, what kind of a friend would I be if I didn’t help you get prepared for your date at the ball, huh? Tell you what, come to the fifth greenhouse tomorrow night, I’ll bring my record player. Deal?” Hannah asked, not sure why she was so eager to help, as if she was happy for Neville. It was a joy to see him so happy and excited, it was rare that he got this excited, even over plants. Still, a part of her burned. 

Ginny Weasley could have anyone. Talented, sporty, kind, gorgeous. Hannah would be lying if she said she hadn’t found herself with dubious thoughts about the girl herself. Ginny Weasley could truly get anyone she wanted and still they’d still be at a loss, so why did she decide to unknowingly come for Hannah’s own neck and ask out Neville?

“You’re the best! I’m going to go check if I’ve gotten any mail from nan, and then I’m going to eat. See you tomorrow night!” Neville was practically bouncing off the dry dirt floor as he sped away, leaving Hannah alone in the greenhouse with her thoughts and the mandrakes. Surprisingly, the mandrakes were the quieter of the two.

“Fucking hell, Hannah. What have we done now, eh?” She laughed hollowly, hanging her muffs and gardening coat up on the rack set aside just for her and Neville. Walking around the bed to get to the door, she rubbed her face and let out a large puff of breath before walking out into the empty hallway,  
\-------------------

Carrying her record player in her arms, she walked through the greenhouses to the last, empty one. Greenhouse five was for intensive care plants that needed quarantining, and therefore was empty until use. Hannah placed the record player on the table, shifting her Kanken off of her shoulders and unzipping it and taking out her Sinatra disc - it was a ‘best of’ album and had all of her favourite songs on it. Slow and seductive, they’d be perfect for dancing.

Neville probably wouldn’t come for a while, which was her fault - she hadn’t specified the time. Setting the needle on the disc and turning the player up to fill the room with soft lulls of noise, Hannah sat up on one of the shelves and swayed softly, tying her hair up into a ponytail and taking off her jacket and jumper. She had little plant doodles littering her arms that stood out on her freckled arms from being horrifically bored in charms.

“Hannah?” Neville called, walking through the old glass paned door and smiling at her. “Sinatra? Really? My nan would be proud.” He laughed softly, hanging his bag up.

“Oi, I love Sinatra!” Hannah laughed softly, hopping off of the desk and standing up, rolling her sleeves up. The warm, yellowing lights reflected off of her face and made her look entirely different, in Neville’s opinion. His friend was always pretty, that was indisputable, but the way she looked under lantern light was something else. He’d always had a thing for freckles, he thought.

“Of course you do,” He smiled, walking closer to her, his heart beating out of his chest unexpectedly. “So, may I have this dance?” That line was forced and Neville hated how obvious it was - he loved how she reacted, however.

Hannah bent slightly and took his hand with a nod “You may.” She smiled at him, and then extended their hands outwards “Put your hand on my waist, and then I’ll put my hand on your arm. Do you know box step?”

“Would you be surprised if I said no?” Neville chuckled nervously, placing an extremely gentle hand on her waist, it felt almost like a feather. “Is that okay?”

“That’s brilliant, Nev.” Hannah told him softly, placing her hand on his arm. “So, we’ll start with box step, and then we’ll move on to a waltz.” She hummed along to the seductive lull of the american’s voice “Sound good?”

“Sounds good.” Neville nodded, following her movements and accidentally stepping on her feet every three seconds. He was blushing more every time he did, and Hannah was sure that it’d never be better than this, even if she needed to heal her tiny feet afterwards.

“Fly me to the moon, and let me swing among the stars..” Hannah sung quietly as he spun her and then pulled her back in, the first time he’d took some intuition the whole night. The stars were just starting to make an appearance above them in the sky they were sheltered from by the old but sturdy greenhouse.

“I’d join in with you, but I can’t sing.” He told her with a shy smile, making her giggle and take his hand again to dance around the greenhouse. “Seriously, I can’t.”

“Don’t worry, Nev, no-one’s asking you to sing. Just as long as you have a good time, you can do what you want.” The hufflepuff told him, slowing into a gentle sway. “You excited for the ball?”

“Absolutely ecstatic.” Neville replied “You’re going with someone, right?”

“Might go with a friend, but otherwise it’s just going to be me. Not really my scene, in all honesty. I hope you have fun, though. It’s nice to see you this happy.” She told him honestly as they broke apart.

“Thanks. What are you doing tomorrow night?” Neville asked, hooking his bag onto his back and then picking hers up. “I’ll walk with you to your dorm,”

“Nothing, why?” This is it, Hannah thought hopefully as she slid the record back in it’s sleeve and zipped it into her bag. Neville’s going to ask me out, and I won’t be lonely on the night of the yule ball. This is it, this makes the heartbreak worth it.

“I was wondering if you would be okay doing this again? It’s really helpful and I want to really impress her.” Neville smiled, looking over at the girl hopefully as she lifted the record player up.

“Sure.” Hannah nodded, never having felt more defeated.


	2. A frog in his throat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The yule ball happens, and well, Hannah has just about a good of a time as she expects to have.

Hannah rolled her eyes gently as she sat infront of her vanity mirror. She was in a champagne dress and she didn’t look like the princess she thought she might. She felt like shit. Her chest was too heavy for the delicate silk bodice that adorned it, her shoulders carrying too much weight for them to ever be pretty wrapped in golden gossamer. To make it all worse, the only comfort she’d had over the past week or two had been teaching the love of her teenage life how to dance so that he could impress another girl.

He was not a good dancer, that was for damn sure, but that’s why she liked him. For some bitter, spiteful reason, she hoped that Ginny thought he was everything she didn’t want. Hannah hoped that Ginny had a great time with Neville and decided it should just end there. Hannah wanted Neville to dance with her the way he had the night before, and the night before that.

Placing the thin, golden headband on her head, she took a breath and walked out, towards the great hall. She was early, she knew. All she wanted was to get her picture to send to her parents and then lie about how great of a time she had whilst crying into a plant.

Taking a seat at one of the tables, she sipped a flute of something odd. The music hadn’t fully started yet, the classical band taking their time to tune up and arrange their sheet music. She spotted a ginger girl in a pink dress and wanted to vomit on spot - not because of her, no, she was gorgeous and looked like she was having a wonderful time. No, she wanted to vomit because there, in his dress robes, was Neville Longbottom.

He’d made a real effort with his hair, and it made her laugh slightly. His nan was always going on about his hair, but she actually quite enjoyed it. Thought it’d be fun to run her hands through. He looked charming and adorable, and none of the effort was for her - not that she wanted him to feel like he needed to dress up or make an effort for her. 

“Hey, Ginny, come meet Hannah!” Neville smiled as he took her hand and walked with her to the little table and pulled out Ginny’s seat before sitting down himself.

“Hannah, you look really good! Where’s your dress from?” Ginny smiled, the brown haired girl having been all that Neville had talked about. They were going as friends, but the ginger girl couldn’t quite work out how or why they weren’t going together.

“Madeleine’s, it’s a muggle shop. Their dresses are beautiful, I can get you the address if you want it. Yours is beautiful, the colour looks really nice on you.” Hannah complimented, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. 

Neville was silence, and looked as if someone had stolen the words from his very mouth or cut off his tongue. An awkward silence filled the air and Ginny nudged him under the table to try and boot him into his normal state, because it was clear that the girl infront of them was getting uncomfortable with the dead stare he was giving.

“Nev was telling me how you’ve been teaching him to dance - where’d you learn? Normally it’s just the stuck up pureblood twats who were taught how during their latin lessons.” Ginny joked, earning a laugh out of the hufflepuff.

“I was a dancer as a kid, but gave it up when I came to hogwarts and discovered my passion for herbology. Neville’s a great student, though, so it’s really been no hassle.” Hannah told her, finishing her drink. 

The band began to play, and Ginny was looking for an escape because Neville had not uttered one word to the poor girl and she was cringing from secondhand embarrassment. “Well, Hannah, it’s been wonderful to meet you. Care to dance, Neville?”

“Sure.” Neville really had no idea what he was doing, there Hannah was, looking like a fairy, and he was going to dance with Ginny, who was pretty but not nearly half as interesting to him. A spike of courage and he felt like turning back around and asking his best friend to dance instead, but by the time he had turned, she was gone.

Hannah fled to the corridor, walking through the stone floors with an incredibly pace for the small girl. Once she reached her greenhouses she let out a sigh of relief and sat down in the fifth greenhouse, the dress cushioning her fall onto the dirt floor. Why didn’t Neville talk to her? Did she look that bad? Was he that uninterested? She wanted to give up, honestly.

“Fly me to the moon, and let me swing among the stars... “ Hannah sung softly, doing her best not to cry. She failed ultimately, of course, and ended up sobbing into her knees on the dry dirt floor until she got tired enough to fall asleep.

“Hannah, dear girl, what have I said about sleeping here?” Professor Sprout sighed softly, crouching and placing a hand on her shoulder “It’s early, go get changed and have some breakfast with that Neville boy.” 

Hannah nodded lazily, no intent on doing that at all. She probably would, though, because her stomach was screaming and if she didn’t have something soon, she might actually faint. “Thanks, Miss.” 

“Oh, call me Pomona, it’s clear we’re at that stage now,” She chuckled, helping the girl up “Now, off you go. Look after yourself, I’ll see you and Longbottom tomorrow for the mandrake demonstration.”


	3. Unicorn shit boy and unicorn shit girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> pure fuckin fluff. enjoy.

When Hannah sat down at the Hufflepuff table, she was overwhelmed by the smell of toast. It was either a lot of toast, or she was incredibly tired. She stood slowly, just wanting to retire to her bed, but was met by a gentle hand pulling her back down. Hannah turned to the person, ready to softly reject whatever offer they were giving.

“You’re not looking too good, Han, pepper-up?” Neville offered, gently passing her the little vial. He, on the other hand, looked brilliantly alive, so happy - so him, Hannah thought.

“Thanks.” Hannah smiled softly, and then took it as if it were a shot “Did you have a good time last night?”

“It was alright, me and Ginny stayed up a while longer than most people. Talked a lot. You know, she can really get information out of someone when she needs to,” Neville chuckled “Have you eaten?”

“Currently eating.” Hannah smiled, biting into her crossaint. “Anyway, are you and Ginny… together?” She was too tired to keep up as good of a facade as she did last night, the pain in her voice coming through slightly.

“Uh, no, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Do you want to go on a walk with me? We have a free period, and uh, yeah.” Neville stuttered through the proposal, happy to see her smile. 

“I’d love to, Neville. I’m finished, not really that hungry anyway,” Butterflies were currently swarming her stomach, replacing any need for food. She adjusted her uniform cardigan and then looked at him. “Ready?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Neville nodded, standing up with her and walking out, ignoring the grins and thumbs up that the twins were giving him behind his back.

Once they were out of the courtyard, he looked at her with a shy smile, taken aback by her once again. The morning sun was shining onto her and making those brown eyes of hers look like honey, pure pools of molten gold, and her freckles were bold as they scattered her face. She was so messily beautiful that it made his jaw drop.

“I’m sorry about last night. I.. don’t know why I didn’t say anything.” Neville knew exactly why he hadn’t said anything - he was blown away with how different Hannah looked with no dashes mud on her face, not surrounded by plants. “Actually, that’s a lie. I know why I didn’t say anything. You looked so different - in such a good way, though, honestly - for some reason I hadn’t even thought that you could exist outside of mud and the greenhouses and the plants, where you’re stellar, you know that.”

“Oh, uhm, I don’t know what to say. What are you trying to say, Nev, because I’m not quite sure I’m following. At all.” Hannah told him softly, tying up her hair as they walked.

“What I mean is, you looked gorgeous. You looked like a fairy, and I kept thinking about dancing with you instead of Ginny, which is hard to do because she’s a lot rougher.” Neville told her honestly, making her laugh. “Seriously, uhm, I have no idea at all of what to say, sorry I’m being so awkward.”

“It’s alright, take your time.” Hannah told him softly, the butterflies turning into vicious moths as he spoke “I like the bits about me being gorgeous.” She teased softly, leaning against a tree.

“It’s the truth. I don’t know why I asked Ginny, but as soon as I realised who I should have gone with, Ginny was excited to go, and you had never seemed that interested in things like the yule ball, so I went through with it. Like an idiot. And then I saw you at the ball, and it all clicked. I wanted to dance with you in the greenhouses because I want to dance with you all the time.” Neville confessed, standing in front of her but not breaching her personal space.   
“I want to dance with you too, Neville, even if it means healing my toes every night.” Hannah told him, both of them blushing heavily. He was getting closer and Neville could smell something he’d only be able to describe as life, as growth, as the greenhouses, as Hannah. The girl spent so much time there, he’d be surprised if she wasn’t classified as a type of plant.

“Sorry about that. Nan says I’ve coordination issues. What I’m trying to say, is, uh, do you want to go out with me? Hogsmeade?” Neville asked hesitantly, to which Hannah nodded with a laugh.

“I would love to, Neville.” Hannah told him placing her arms to rest gently on his shoulders “Spose this is a good time to tell you that I’ve liked you for a while, huh?”

“Probably.” Neville grinned, getting closer. This was the best he’d felt in a while, and it was all because of the living plant, Hannah Abbott.

“Then I’ve got something to tell you - I’ve liked you for a long time, embarrassingly long, actually,” Hannah admitted, gently nudging Neville closer with her arms.

“Should probably tell you that too, then, huh?” Neville asked, a smirk now on his face as he gained confidence.

“Nah,” Hannah shakes her head, which confuses him, that it is, until she places a hand on his jaw and presses her lips to his. Their noses bump, and they both shriek with laughter, before Hannah stills and turns her head to kiss him, and Neville is sure that this girl is made of buttercups and everything that is wonderful about being alive. He wraps his arms around her and there is a yell from Hagrid, a warning they ignore blissfully. They are then knocked off their feet both literally and metaphorically. 

The smell is horrific, and they are sent into the river of whatever this sludge could possibly be. Hannah and Neville hang onto each other for dear life as they’re sent to the bank of the black lake with the sheer force and volume of what they can both safely deduct is unicorn manure.

Once they stop, and are covered in waves of the stuff, Hannah lets out the loudest cackle he’s ever heard in his life. He is still holding her, and she is still holding him.

“Only us, eh, Nev?” She grins with her crooked, imperfect teeth, and Neville laughs with her, because he’s fine with being the unicorn shit boy for a while if he’s unicorn shit boy with her.

\------

Little Alice II Longbottom is seven, and infatuated with the idea of love. She thinks that her parents are the most romantic people in the world, and so whilst her dad’s at Hogwarts being a Herbology professor, she looks over at her mum in the house’s greenhouse, and poses a question that makes Hannah Longbottom smile softly. 

“Mum, what was your first kiss like?” Her voice is soft and careful, just like Hannah’s was when asking a question - she’d come into her own confidence since becoming a renowned herbologist.

“Well, Alice, it was with your father, and he’d just told me that he wanted to dance with me forever - which was terribly romantic, especially as your dear father had been practising how to dance with me for the yule ball for the past week.” Hannah began to explain, but was ultimately interrupted.

“Was dad any good at dancing?” The bouncing child asks, watching as Hannah tends to some of the more exotic plants they have.

“Oh, no, no. Don’t tell him, but no. Your father still cannot dance for toffee,” Hannah told her softly “But that’s a little secret between us, right?”

Her little girl was giggling with a smirk that could only mean something had gone wrong or she knew something that Hannah didn’t. Then, a pair of arms wrapped around her gardening apron, making her jump.

“What’s this you’re saying, Mrs Longbottom?” Neville asks with a smirk as he kisses her cheek and then runs around to hug his daughter, who jumps into his arms.

“Mum was telling me about your first kiss!” Alice grins ear to ear and Neville sets her down to sit on the flower bed.

“Ah, the most romantic thing we’ve ever had happen to us - we bumped noses the first time, and then, the time we got it right, we were carried down Hogwarts, all the way down to the lake!” Neville told her, using hand actions and his story-telling voice that could send anyone to sleep, perfected over years of sleepless nights.

“By what?” Alice asks, excited to hear the finale to the story.

“Unicorn shit.” Hannah grins, forgetting her filter and being covered by Neville, who loudly exclaims that Unicorn Manure ruined his chance to woo the love of his life.

“I’d say you didn’t do too bad a job, seeing as you’ve convinced me to get married to you, move in to a house , and have a beautiful little girl.” Hannah tells him, neglecting to tell him that she’s pregnant again.

“Could have been done without the slurry of unicorn manure, though, couldn’t it?” Neville shrugs as Alice bounces off, bored now she’s heard the story.

“Could have, yeah, but it was still brilliant. It was still enough.” Hannah hummed, not looking up from her plants.

“Lucky us, eh? It’s the easter holidays, and guess who’s got two thumbs, no students to chaperone, and two beautiful girls to spoil?” Neville grins, which distracts Hannah enough for her to put down the plants and turn to him.

“Three.” She says softly, which makes him confused, “Three girls to spoil. It could be a boy, but I’ve got a feeling it’s a girl.”

And once again, Neville is reminded that Hannah Longbottom is made of buttercups and everything that’s good about being alive, because they’re going to have another baby. Neville gets to tell his nan that she’s going to be a great grandmother again, but this time, due to Hannah’s brilliance, he gets to tell his parents that they’re going to be grandparents for the first time.


End file.
